Future iPhone tech â??could handle Gears of Warâ??

The once show-stopping graphical grunt of the 2006 Xbox hit Gears of War will be possible to run on the iPhone by 2012, an Epic Games developer has said.

Donald Mustard, the creative director at Epic subsidiary Chair Entertainment, was not at first convinced by the potential of smartphone gaming.

“I didn’t take it that seriously until we started making this game," Mustard said, as quoted by Eurogamer.

“I think it’s going to be an interesting future, especially if in two years we can really run Gears of War on an iPhone.”

Epic’s Unreal Engine 3 will be making its debut on Apple’s mobile platforms with the upcoming Infinity Blade – an App Store game built on the template laid out in Epic Citadel, the free iOS app.

“This is literally going to be the best looking handheld game ever made,” added Mustard.

“It’s way beyond what a DS or PSP could do.”

Chair Entertainment technical director Geremy Mustard was a touch less optimistic.

“If not two years, then certainly five years. Well, it could be as soon as two years but within five years that will certainly be the case. It will at least be powerful enough to do that.

“Whether it’ll be viable from a gaming standpoint that’s a different question. Can I look at a little screen for two hours at a time and play a game steadily?”

Donald Mustard claimed that Epic has a huge interest from other developers in licensing Unreal Engine for iPhone.

The vice president of Epic Games, Mark Rein, recently made unequivocal his belief in mobile formats.

He told Develop that future successors to Microsoft and Sony’s powerhouse consoles would benefit from no longer being tethered to the living room TV.

“Imagine a future Xbox 360 that is actually a tablet you carry around,” Rain said in an interview with Develop.

“It will have more power than 360 does today, with technology like Kinect built right in.

“Imagine walking into a bar with some friends, propping it up on the table and playing games like Dance Central or Kinect Adventures anywhere you go. Then when you get home that same device will use technology like AirPlay or wireless HDMI to connect to your big screen, you’ll pick up a wireless controller, or use your phone as controller to play games like Gears of War.”